How Social Networks Have Affected the Way We Communicate - Essay Example

?HOW SOCIAL NETWORKS HAVE AFFECTED THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE The rapidly growing and advancing technology has greatly changed lifestyles in many societies. The performance of almost every activity in our societies depends on technology or includes certain inputs of technology, based on computers. Communication that defines the subjects and foundation of almost every activity carried in our societies has greatly experienced similar changes. Communication techniques have shifted from manual form that entailed letters and telephone lines connected to immobile communication devices, to digital mode characterized by computers and Smartphones connected to high-tech wireless networks and internet. The digital mode of communication has facilitated creation and development of websites and software programs that have to better and eased how people communicate. Social networking is another name for interconnectivity of social sites like face books and twitters among others. Social networking and its complementary social sites have had serious and substantial impacts on how people communicate within their respective environments. Social networking has had both negative and positive impacts on the manner in which people communicate in various societies. Positive Impacts of Social Networking on How People Communicate Social networking has worked to enhance the manner and speed of communication within our various societies. To communicate through social network, one requires having special skills to read, write and interpret the abbreviations used in communicating. Due to the ease of writing these abbreviations, social networking makes it very easy for people to exchange and share information. Moreover, social networking has worked positively towards improving communication skills and efficiency of shy people who fear communicating on face to face setting (Tyson 2010, p. 9). Since communication only requires participants to write their thoughts, shy people registered in social networks have no reason to restrain from communication. In precise, social networking has enhanced confidence and courage required of people during communication (Mcnamara 2010, p. 13). The use of social networks in business organizations has significantly changed the manner in which institutional management coordinate operations. Instead of writing paper memos for events, managers can nowadays write soft memos and post them on the face book or twitter account of the organization for all friend workers to access. Negative Impacts of Social Networking on How People Communicate Social networking via sites such as Facebook, twitter, Google, and MySpace among others has greatly compromised writing skills and the art of communication as a whole (Jung 2012). Though communications conducted through social networking entails writing, the process is usually in the form of short message services (SMS). Real SMSs involve construction and writing of messages and sentences in their short forms that may be difficult for some people to understand. For example, instead of writing the “goodbye,” a person using SMS while communicating via social networking will write “gudby” or “gdby.” Such kinds of communication and very influential and people easily adapt to them, despite their unofficial nature that makes them inappropriate for business communications (Goodall, Goodall and Schiefelbein 2010, p.17). The confidence people tend to have while communicating via social networks has negatively worked to increase cyber-bullying. This has been possible especially in sites like face book where making friends only requires one to send a request and receive confirmation even from anonymous people. The anonymous friend understanding the level of anonymity to the other friend may be tempted to start sending inflammatory messages that translate into bullying. Bullying is usually difficult on a face to face basis of communication as perpetrators fear of their identity to the victim, which may ease accusation and prosecution on the basis of threatening the life of the victim (Tardanico 2012). Moreover, social networking is threatening to dissolve body language and use of signs, which basically enhance verbal communication. Writing of messages as common in social networking does not require use of body expression and languages. This has proved great difficulty particularly to adolescents growing during this digital age as they grow without having significant skills for communicating using body expressions. Annotated bibliography Jung, Brian. (2012). The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals. This article offers explicit discussion about the negative effects of social media, which includes social sites on the societies. In so doing, the article also touches and offers little but important information regarding how negatively social media has affected the manner of communication. Macnamara, J 2010, The 21st century media (r) evolution: Emergent communication practices. New York, Peter Lang. This article generally discusses the revolution that has occurred in media. The article goes further to incorporate the coming of computers and shift in communication techniques facilitated by development of various communication sites. it also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of such revolutions that have hit communication sector. Shariff, S and Churchill, A. H 2010, Truths and myths of cyber-bullying: international perspectives on stakeholder responsibility and children's safety. New York, Peter Lang. The authors of this book intend to make known to the mysteries surrounding cyber bullying and chain of its development. The authors achieve his purpose by including significant discussion concerning the use of social networks and the longitudinal threat implication. Goodall, H. L., Goodall, S and Schiefelbein, J 2010, Business and professional communication in the global workplace. Boston, MA, Wadsworth Pub. This book discusses about the development in the information technology fostered by computer technology. The book goes further to discuss the extent of application of computer and internet technology in businesses. The book proves great importance to the topic of discussion as it touches on the impacts of social networking as used in conducting business communications. Reynolds, S 2012, Reasons Why Internet Social Networking Has a Positive Effect. . The author of this article conducts a generalized discussion depicting positive effects of social networking in various societies. Discussions offered in the article have slight correlation to the topic of study. TARDANICO, S 2012, Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication?< http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-real-communication/>. This article generally talks about positive and negative effects of social networking on the real communication as was before the integrated digital age. The article explores the manner of communication in the past and its situation in the current digital age. Hartly, D 2012, Social Networking: The Endgame of Natural Communication. . The author of the article tend to acknowledge the pace of technological advancement taking into account the introduction of social networking and social sites. in the article, the author expresses concern over the increasingly fading natural communication to allow space for SMSs. Tyson, W 2010, Pitch perfect: communicating with traditional and social media for scholars, researchers, and academic leaders. Sterling, VA, Stylus Pub. The article explores the state of communication in the traditional societies as was before the coming of computer and high-tech networking. St. Amant, K., & Kelsey, S 2012, Computer-mediated communication across cultures: international interactions in online environments. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference. The authors of this article are acknowledging and appreciating the level of technological advancement to witness computer mediated communications. The authors also acknowledge that computer mediated communications through programs like social networking have significantly affected the manner in which peopled used to communicate. Crooks, R., & Baur, K 2011, Our sexuality. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. According to this article, computer technology that has seen introduction of social networking has seen great shift in sexual beliefs as people easily share sexual images and messages viewed by different people across the genders. Conclusion Social networking, which is a complementary development of computerization, has led to both negative and positive effects to the way people communicate. To begin with, social networking has worked to make communication more efficient as shy people find adequate to express their feelings freely considering their remoteness and lack of face to face interaction. Social networking has also threatened to facilitate development of children without skills of verbal communication. Intense use of messages is almost killing the art of writing, compromising listening skills as well as affecting speaking skills. Since social networking has both negative and positive effects to the communication, it is responsibility of every individual to create a balance to reduce the negative effects. B) My Personal Profile. Prior to my enrolment into university, I had known a lot of things related to computer use and communication. I had known how to operate computer and transact many businesses or perform many activities like browsing, writing, setting security updates and running soft ware and hardware compatibility and validity. I also knew how to open email accounts by various service providers like yahoo, Google and Microsoft hotmail. In fact I opened three email addresses based on the three service providers indicated. Furthermore, I was also aware of existence of the social networks used like Face book, twitter, MySpace and Google+. I own face book and twitter accounts which I opened using email addresses. In face book, I knew how to send and confirm friend requests. On twitter, I knew how to “follow” and “unfollow” various users. I interacted with people including offline and online friends using my face book that was very active. I also knew how to upload photos and videos on my face book account and twitter account. Joining university to pursue computer studies has significantly improved my level of proficiency as far as computer and internet technology are concerned. For instance, I have learnt various programming skills that have helped me develop replicas of programs such as Java, Turbo C, Assembler 805, Xilinx, MySQLU, debuggers, compilers and IDE. Unlike in the past when I could not detect internet threats while browsing, today I have been able to understand very secrete ways of identifying malicious websites even in the absence of antivirus software. I have also known how to remove virus from any computer system without any need for formatting. My focus and dream by the time I graduate from university is to know how to develop and maintain a social network. I also dream to know how to develop a virus and antivirus software. Moreover, I dream to know methods and procedures of developing and maintaining website. I also wish to learn how to create programs like the Oracle and C#. Additionally, I dream of developing more convenient software program usable in ATM machines for calculating, delivering withdrawals and taking deposits to the reserves. I also intend to learn and perhaps develop new program techniques for improving security in banks and online money transfer to help reduce the rate of cyber thefts. In general, my professional dream in future is to become a soft ware developer, which will become possible bearing my level of technology and interest in soft ware and program development C) My First Semester at Level 4: Performance and Achievements. During my first semester at level four, I had gained substantial communication and learning skills required of any student undertaking a course in computer science. I was able to make oral communications in real consistency to the required practices in computer science. I had also gained immeasurable interest in computer science that fostered my listening skills thus improving my learning of computer science. In fact, I have been passing many exams related to computer science at my class level. I have also been giving correct answers to related questions posed by the lecturer n the midst of lessons. Moreover, in my level 4 of the first semester I had good grasp about computer systems fundamentals. I knew how to differentiate software from hardware components and even fixing the systems for compatibility. Additionally, I also had gained good grasp of networking techniques as well as methods of configuring network settings. Furthermore, I also understood and had great knowledge concerning the software development principles. I could list and memorize principles such as reason for developing the software, KISS, maintenance of vision, producing for others’ consumption, openness to future planning ahead for reuse, and thinking. In fact, the number of programming software I developed conformed to the listed principles of soft ware development. References Jung, B 2012, The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals. . Macnamara, J 2010, The 21st century media (r) evolution: Emergent communication practices. New York, Peter Lang. Shariff, S and Churchill, A. H 2010, Truths and myths of cyber-bullying: international perspectives on stakeholder responsibility and children's safety. New York, Peter Lang. Goodall, H. L., Goodall, S and Schiefelbein, J 2010, Business and professional communication in the global workplace. Boston, MA, Wadsworth Pub. Reynolds, S 2012, Reasons Why Internet Social Networking Has a Positive Effect. . Tadoi, V 2012, The Positive and Negative Effects of Social Networking. . Tardanico, S. Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication? http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-real-communication/, 2012 Hartly, D 2012, Social Networking: The Endgame of Natural Communication. . Tyson, W 2010, Pitch perfect: communicating with traditional and social media for scholars, researchers, and academic leaders. Sterling, VA, Stylus Pub. St. Amant, K and Kelsey, S 2012, Computer-mediated communication across cultures: international interactions in online environments. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference. Crooks, R., & Baur, K 2011, Our sexuality. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Mercer, L, Effects of Social Networking on Communication in Business. . Read More